What are you up to?

organ grinder wrote:

vanishingbreed wrote:The desert has even more of those people you mentioned. More speed freaks than you can count and the gang bangers are everywhere. It is getting difficult to find a really nice place to live in San Bernardino county. That is why my wife and I want to move up to Washington State to a small town that doesn't have the crime and there are hardly any illegal aliens. We have a house there already just can't move up till we get our surgeries taken care of here at the VA Hospital. None of the VA hospitals up there treat veterans dependents.

That's what so great about this site, the information one can get on an everyday subject. Thanks Mike for the info about the VA treating dependents, I was unaware that they offered this. I will check into it this week. Sure would help me greatly with the way the economy is today. The VA might be a little slow as you well know, what's it been now about 7 months since they told you needed surgery? Just hang in there, the care they provide us Vet's is great and the price is right!!!

I have been going to the VA hospital here since it was built 32 years ago. It has been the top rated VA hospital in the country every year. I had the surgery on my left shoulder almost two months ago, Still going through physical therapy and when I am through with that they want to do the right shoulder probably after the first of the year. The knees have to wait for awhile. The VA treats dependents but the veteran has to have a 100% service connected disability rating before they can treat the dependents. My wife gets seen regularly at the VA hospital since I have a 100% disability rating. Actually when you add up my different disabilities it comes up to 180% but they only pay up to 100% using VA math which no one understands but the VA. The only things they won't do for my wife is dental, glasses, and hearing aids. If she needs surgery or say an electric wheelchair or one of those little scooters they will provide it free of charge. All prescriptions are free too. If you are a vet with a 100% service connected disability rating you do not have to pay property taxes in most states and most states will exempt you from paying your yearly registration fees on one vehicle. Plus your dependents can go to any college or university for free courtesy of Uncle Sam. You can also fly anywhere in the world for free on a military aircraft and stay for free on any US military base in guest quarters while you are traveling by military aircraft. Plus if you are a vet and have a veterans ID card a lot of places like Home Depot and Lowes will give you a 10% discount on anything in their stores. Also you get a big discount on hunting and fishing licenses if you have a 100% disability rating. They do treat us vets very well but the monthly payments could be a bit higher. Pres. Bush was trying for a pay increase of $700.00-$1000.00 a month for service connected veterans with a 100% disability rating but it appears that Pres. Obama has done away with that. When I was working I was making $2000.00 a week but now on disability I get $2800.00 a month plus social security. Big difference. When I was in a wheelchair for 7 years I got a whopping $25.00 a month for me and my wife and three kids. Had to donate plasma twice a week to buy beans and potatoes while my wife worked part time at Kmart. Those were rough times. They VA finally admitted seven years ago that I should have been paid a lot more back then and sent me three checks, one for $60,000.00, one for $40,000.00 and one for $186,000.00 to make up for it but by that time my kids were to old to take advantage of the free college. If you are a veteran and have any questions feel free to ask me or even better contact your nearest DAV, Military Order of The Purple Heart, Veterans of Foreign Wars representative or go to your nearest VA hospital where you can talk to any of the above. If you are a combat vet then look into post traumatic stress disorder treatment. It could get you a disability rating up to 100%.

Today i played musical vans in the barn, move 2 out to get one out for cutting up. I also put in a tractor for the winter.

this is the 64 I wanted out

drove these 2 out to clear a path

park the tractor

outside at last warm up the sawzall

Farewell to the "convertible" ,,, What did ya do with all the goodies that were in it ??

I still have to empty it out..


still runs great, this van was owned by GMC dealer in Stanton, it sat from 1973 until they built the Mcdogfood up there. Has about 65,000 miles on it. good for parts. Joe I found that transmission hanger.

Dan I need a piece of the dash from that one if your going to cut it up. I'll send you a PM with the pic of what I need.

I could REALLY use the interior door latch and window regulators if your wantin to get rid of them!

finished the wood pile for the season. cant aford cement floor this year, so i put down some 6mill. plastic to hold the duster.

Worked on the van yesterday for about 4 hours. Testing some chem's to remove paint from the large side panels. Did a little cutting for the Gas filler and Lic. Plate conversion. Found a nice large flexible sanding disc that works great for paint removal without damaging the metal.

$6 at Wally-World. *** Last 5 words on back of can: "DO NOT USE ON AIRCRAFT"


Works pretty good....


Sanding disc works great but very time consuming..


Cutting the filler out....


License Plate conversion tact'd in place....
And "Yes" I did move it to the right about 3" to line up with the rally stripes that will come later...

Looking good.

wideload wrote:Dan I need a piece of the dash from that one if your going to cut it up. I'll send you a PM with the pic of what I need.

ready to send it.

Dan let me know how many $'s and I'll send you Pay-pal.

Thanks a bunch, wideload

Today I took out a couple roof bows and the rear panel. Dropped the gastank and took out the rear bumper brackets.





lots of grease preservative under there



If you van has ever had a seam sealer leak on the roof drip rails there is no paint in there

Vanish wrote:Dan Do you got Plans for the roof ribs ( supports ) ???????

Vanish, I already asked.... He has plans for them..

Not really. It costs about $32 from coast to coast for two ribs...

Bills66 is shipping me a 2nd Gen doghouse from Salem Or. now that will be fun!!!

Going to see what I can cut off the parts van (batt box maybe ?) Bill

BILLS66 wrote:Going to see what I can cut off the parts van (batt box maybe ?) Bill

Wahoo !!!!

gotta work today, my turn this weekend.

Mrs.Benwah's birthday today, got to make her a cake and cook dinner.

Winter is coming and I have been looking for a cheap 4x4 to drive when the snow comes. I played with the idea of 4x4ing the Handi, but am in love with the "biggy-small surf van" look for it. So today I found the winter ride. A 71 Scout II, she has a little rust here and there, but everything works, she runs good, and it was $800.

Finally found a wheel lock key that fits the parts van today. Now I can put her up on jackstands, get the wheels off, and start the stripping and cutting her up thing.

More van carnage today.


glass out

saving this for a pickup

mice in the gastank

I have been getting a package together for Dan (dog house) .It's a custom job 1 dryer box ,1 bike box, misc cardboard,and what is going to be lots of tape .Then it will be on it's way! Nice wrap job huh? Bill

Scary to think what that will cost to ship Or to Fl